Safety devices for preventing a firearm from being fired are well known and have been in use for many years. More recent devices incorporate “smart gun” technologies to automatically control the discharge of a firearm as for example a biometric control such as a fingerprint sensor to restrict the discharge of a firearm only to one or perhaps more authorized persons having a fingerprint pattern stored in or on the firearm.
Transmitter/receivers have also been used to restrict or enable the discharge of a firearm. For example, a U.S. Patent of Mossberg et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,211 discloses a Normally Enabled Firearm Control System That Is Directionally Disabled. As disclosed, a police officer or the like wears a transmitter that transmits signal energy in all directions. The transmitter may be worn by the authorized user on the user's person. The transmitter transmits a “disable” system that is received by a corresponding signal receiver built into the firearm only when the muzzle of the firearm is pointed in the direction of the authorized user. In other words, the receiver has a narrow angular spatial range of signal reception. In this way, if the firearm is taken away from the authorizer user, or the authorized user accidentally points the firearm at his/her person, then the firearm will be disabled automatically from firing by reception of the “disable” signal sent by the transmitter worn by the authorized user.
A more recent U.S. Pat. No. 6,711,844 of Rumfelt is directed to a Firearm Locking System And Method For Preventing Rotation Of A Cylinder. As disclosed, the firearm locking system and method of the invention provides a cylinder locking unit for a firearm adaptable to a firearm chamber, the cylinder locking unit including a receiver, an electric actuator, and a locking device extendible from the firearm chamber for preventing discharge of the firearm, the locking device extending upon activation of the electric actuator.
Further, a U.S. Pat. No. 8,464,459 of Summers discloses a Weapon Control Device that is coupled with a weapon and includes a processor and a connector operably engaging a selector switch in or on a weapon. The processor receives a signal from the connector in response to movement of the selector switch. The weapon control device further includes a transmitter and a transceiver, wherein one of the transmitter and transceiver send a signal in response to the processor receiving a signal from the connector. The weapon control device further includes a weapon accessory, wherein the weapon accessory is activated in response to the signal sent by one of the transmitter and transceiver
Notwithstanding the above, it is presently believed that there is a need and a potential commercial market for an improved firearm safety device in accordance with the present invention. There should be a relatively large potential market since the system in accordance with the present invention because it includes a more fully safety system that totally disables the firearm.